The Liberal Era (1960-1968)
I. The Kennedy Presidency A. Personality, image, and characteristics -Kennedy personified the self-confident liberal who believed that an activist state could improve life at home and confront the Communist college abroad -Vigorous and prosperous -Wealthy father -Charming war hero, used his father's connections to win election to the House of Representatives in 1946 from a Boston district in which he had never lived -Wife = Jacqueline -Won Pulitzer Prize for Profiles in Courage (1956), written largely by a staff member -Roman Catholic, but still won a first-ballot victory at the 1960 Democratic convention -42 years old, sounded the theme of a “New Frontier” to “get America moving again” by liberal activism at home and abroad B. A New Beginning …show more content…
In June 1963, President Kennedy gave a speech at American University, Washington, D.C. encouraging Americans to abandon the negative views of the Soviet Union. He tried to lay the foundations for a realistic policy of peaceful coexistence with the Soviet Union.
The Struggle for Civil Rights
During his campaign, JFK had gained the black vote by stating that he would pass civil rights legislation.
In 1960, groups of Freedom Riders spread out across the South to end segregation in facilities serving interstate bus passengers. A white mob torched a Freedom Ride bus near Anniston, Alabama in May 1961. When southern officials proved unwilling to stop the violence, federal marshals were dispatched to protect the freedom riders.
For the most part, the Kennedy family and the King family (Martin Luther King, Jr.) had a good relationship.
SNCC and other civil rights groups inaugurated a Voter Education Project to register the South's historically disfranchised